CULTURE: Has Edgar Allan Poe's Mystery Admirer Passed On?

For the second year in a row, the mysterious visitor who marked Edgar Allan Poe's birthday each year by leaving three red roses and a bottle of cognac on the author's Baltimore grave has failed to appear. The tradition, which began on Jan. 19, 1949, was last carried out on the 200th anniversary of Poe's birth. The curator of the Edgar Allan Poe House crouched in the dark until 5:45am yesterday before throwing in the towel, reports the Baltimore Sun.

Jeff Jerome said four wannabes placed the requisite items at the gravesite; though Jerome swears he doesn't know the real visitor's identity, he says the man's general appearance remained constant, and didn't match that of any of the wannabes. "They were not our boy. We can usually tell within a few seconds." Adds Jerome, "I will be here in 2012, but that will be it." As for what might have happened, CNN offers a few theories: The shadowy figure just called it quits, can no longer sneak past the growing crowds, or is eternally slumbering somewhere himself.